Method and apparatus for cooperation among devices in transmissions over a uu interface

ABSTRACT

Methods and apparatuses are described for cooperation of two or more devices to improve the transmissions over a Uu interface. A source receives or transmits an indicator indicating a first mode of two modes of cooperation between the source apparatus and at least a first cooperating device. The two modes of cooperation includes a joint communication mode and a relay mode of cooperation. If the first mode is the joint communication mode, at least a portion of the data, intended for the intended recipient, is transmitted to at least the first cooperating device to be further transmitted by the first cooperating device to the intended recipient. A same or different portion of the data is transmitted to the intended recipient or to a second cooperating device to be further transmitted by the second cooperating device to the intended recipient.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present disclosure is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser.No. 16/939,672, entitled “METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR COOPERATION AMONGDEVICES IN TRANSMISSIONS OVER A UU INTERFACE”, filed Jul. 27, 2020, andclaims priority from U.S. provisional patent application No. 62/880,289,entitled “A METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR COOPERATION AMONG DEVICES INTRANSMISSIONS OVER A UU INTERFACE”, filed Jul. 30, 2019, the entirety ofeach of which is hereby incorporated by reference.

FIELD

The present disclosure is related to methods and apparatuses forwireless communication, in which two or more electronic devices (EDs)cooperate to improve the transmissions over a Uu interface.

BACKGROUND

In current wireless systems (e.g., LTE networks) the wireless networkcan include nodes that serve as relays. A relay can be used to helpimprove the coverage of wireless communications. Conventionally, a relaynode is mainly deployed by operators at a fixed site. There aredifferent types of relays, including more simple relays (e.g.,repeaters) and more complicated relays (e.g., L3 relays).

Techniques for device-to-device (D2D) communication (e.g., wirelesscommunications over a sidelink (SL) interface between two EDs) have beenstudied. These techniques include newer types of communications, such asvehicle-to-everything (V2X) communications.

With the increasing number and density of EDs being deployed, such as ingrowing Internet of Things (IoT) systems and 5G wireless systems, thereis a desire to utilize SL communications to help improve transmissionsover the interface between the device and the network (e.g.,transmissions over a Uu interface).

SUMMARY

In various examples, the present disclosure may enable an ED to, whencooperation mode is enabled, switch between operation in relay mode andjoint communication mode. In some examples, an ED may operate in relaymode when cooperating with a first other ED and operate in jointcommunication mode when cooperating with a second other ED and possiblya third (or more) other ED. The examples disclosed herein may help toenable cooperation among EDs, which may help to improve systemperformance, in terms of coverage and throughput.

In some example aspects, the present disclosure describes a method, at asource apparatus. The method includes: receiving or transmitting anindicator indicating a first mode of two modes of cooperation betweenthe source apparatus and at least a first cooperating device, whereinthe two modes of cooperation comprises a joint communication mode ofcooperation and a relay mode of cooperation. If the first mode is thejoint communication mode of cooperation, the method further includes:transmitting at least a portion of the data, intended for the intendedrecipient, to at least the first cooperating device to be furthertransmitted by the first cooperating device to the intended recipient;and transmitting at least a same or different portion of the data to theintended recipient or to a second cooperating device to be furthertransmitted by the second cooperating device to the intended recipient.

In any of the examples, the method may include, if the first mode is therelay mode of cooperation: transmitting data, intended for the intendedrecipient, to a first cooperating device to be further transmitted bythe first cooperating device to the intended recipient.

In any of the examples, the indicator may be transmitted in one or moreof: a radio resource control (RRC) signal, a downlink controlinformation (DCI) message, a sidelink control information (SCI) message,a RRC signal over a sidelink physical layer (PC5), or a packettransmitted over a sidelink interface.

In any of the examples, the method may include: enabling the relay modeof cooperation at the first cooperating device by: in absence oftransmitting the indicator, transmitting, to the first cooperatingdevice only, the data originating from the source apparatus.

In any of the examples, the method may include, if the first mode is thejoint communication mode of cooperation: splitting or duplicating thedata into two or more portions of data; transmitting one of the two ormore portions of data to the first cooperating device, to be transmittedby the first cooperating device to the intended recipient; andperforming at least one of: transmitting another of the two or moreportions of data to the second cooperating device, to be transmitted bythe second cooperating device to the intended recipient; or transmittingthe other of the two or more portions of data to the intended recipient.

In any of the examples, splitting or duplicating the data may beperformed by one of: splitting or duplicating the data at a packet dataconvergence protocol (PDCP) layer; splitting or duplicating the data ata media access control (MAC) layer; or splitting or duplicating the dataat a physical (PHY) layer.

In some example aspects, the present disclosure describes a method, at acooperating device. The method includes: receiving a first indicatorenabling a joint communication mode of cooperation with a first sourceapparatus; receiving at least a portion of first data from the firstsource apparatus; receiving at least a portion of second data from asecond source apparatus; and transmitting at least the portion of firstdata and at least the portion of second data to at least one intendedrecipient.

In any of the examples, the method may include: receiving a secondindicator enabling a relay mode of cooperation with the second sourceapparatus; wherein at least the portion of first data may be transmittedusing the joint communication mode of cooperation, and at least theportion of second data is transmitted using the relay mode ofcooperation.

In any of the examples, the method may include: in absence of anyindicator indicating a mode of cooperation with the second sourceapparatus, transmitting at least the portion of second data using arelay mode of cooperation by default.

In any of the examples, the intended recipient for at least the portionof first data may be different from the intended recipient for at leastthe portion of second data.

In any of the examples, the transmitting may include multiplexing atleast the portion of first data and at least the portion of second dataover respective transmission resources.

In any of the examples, the transmitting may include multiplexing atleast the portion of first data and at least the portion of second dataover at least one of the following: different codewords; differenttransport blocks; different layers; different code block groups; ordifferent radio bearers.

In some example aspects, the present disclosure describes a method, at arecipient apparatus. The method includes: receiving or transmitting anindicator indicating a first mode of two modes of cooperation, whereinthe two modes of cooperation comprises a joint communication mode ofcooperation and a relay mode of cooperation. If the first mode is thejoint communication mode of cooperation, the method further includes:receiving, from a first cooperating device, at least a portion of dataoriginating from a source apparatus; and receiving, from at leastanother device, a different portion of data originating from the sourceapparatus or a duplicate of at least the portion of data originatingfrom the source apparatus.

In any of the examples, the method may include, if the first mode is therelay mode of cooperation: receiving, from the first cooperating device,data originating from the source apparatus.

In any of the examples, the indicator may be transmitted to at least oneof the first cooperating device, the source apparatus, or a secondcooperating device.

In any of the examples, the indicator may be transmitted in one or moreof: a radio resource control (RRC) signal, a downlink controlinformation (DCI) message, a sidelink control information (SCI) message,a RRC signal over a sidelink physical layer (PC5), or a packettransmitted over a sidelink interface.

In any of the examples, the indicator may be transmitted to enable thejoint communication mode, and in absence of the indicator the relay modemay be enabled at the first cooperating device by default.

In any of the examples, the indicator may include information indicatingtransmission resources to be used for transmitting at least the portionof data originating from the source apparatus.

In any of the examples, the portion of data received from the sourceapparatus and the different or duplicate portion of data received fromthe other device may be split or duplicated at a packet data convergenceprotocol (PDCP) layer; at a media access control (MAC) layer; or at aphysical (PHY) layer.

In any of the examples, the indicator may be received from the sourceapparatus, the first cooperating device, or the other device.

In some aspects, the present disclosure describes a source apparatusincluding a non-transitory memory storage storing instructions, and oneor more processors in communication with the memory. The one or moreprocessors execute the instructions to implement steps in accordancewith any of the methods described above.

In some aspects, the present disclosure describes a cooperatingapparatus including a non-transitory memory storage storinginstructions, and one or more processors in communication with thememory. The one or more processors execute the instructions to implementsteps in accordance with any of the methods described above.

In some aspects, the present disclosure describes a base stationincluding a non-transitory memory storage storing instructions, and oneor more processors in communication with the memory. The one or moreprocessors execute the instructions to implement steps in accordancewith any of the methods described above.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Reference will now be made, by way of example, to the accompanyingdrawings which show example embodiments of the present application, andin which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an example communication systemsuitable for implementing examples described herein;

FIGS. 2 and 3 are block diagrams showing an example base station (BS)and an example electronic device (ED), respectively, suitable forimplementing examples described herein;

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating example cooperation of EDs ina relay mode;

FIGS. 5A and 5B are schematic diagrams illustrating different examplecooperation of EDs in joint communication modes;

FIGS. 6A-6D are signaling diagrams illustrating example data flows forcoordination of cooperating EDs;

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating an example operation of an assistedED for UL communications;

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating an example operation of a cooperatingED for UL communications;

FIG. 9A is a flowchart illustrating an example operation of a BS for DLcommunications;

FIG. 9B is a flowchart illustrating an example operation of acooperating ED for DL communications;

FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram illustrating ED-specific cooperationamong EDs;

FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of data beingjointly transmitted in joint communication mode;

FIGS. 12A-C show some examples of how data splitting may be implementedat the assisted ED; and

FIGS. 13A-C show some examples of how a cooperating ED may transmit dataoriginating from two different sources.

Similar reference numerals may have been used in different figures todenote similar components.

DESCRIPTION OF EXAMPLE EMBODIMENTS

Conventional wireless techniques have focused on the use of sidelink(SL) for device-to-device (D2D) communications. The use of SL to enablecooperation among electronic devices (EDs) (including cooperation withEDs operating in relay mode), for the intention of improvingcommunications between EDs and the network (e.g., over the Uuinterface), have not been well studied. The present disclosure describesexamples for enabling ED cooperation and managing different modes of EDcooperation, which may help to enhance the system throughout, coverageand/or capacity. Improvements in latency and/or reliability may also beachieved in some examples. The present disclosure describes examples formanaging coordination and cooperation among multiple EDs, in terms ofboth transmission and reception (e.g., for improving both uplink (UL)and downlink (DL) communications). The disclosed examples may be usefulfor current and future wireless technologies, for example includingvehicle-to-everything (V2X), enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), andultra-reliable low-latency communication (URLLC), among otherpossibilities.

The present disclosure describes example methods and apparatuses inwhich an electronic device (ED) may be configured and/or enabled tooperate in a cooperation mode. Under cooperation mode, there may be twodifferent types of cooperation, namely a relay mode and a jointcommunication mode. Two or more cooperating EDs may operate togetherunder a relay mode or a joint communication mode. At least one EDoperates as a cooperating ED, to assist at least another ED (referred toherein as an assisted ED) in communications over a Uu interface. In thepresent disclosure, the cooperating ED refers to the ED that helps totransmit or receive, over a Uu interface, at least some data originatingfrom or intended for another ED. The assisted ED is the ED that isassisted by the cooperating ED in this manner. In some instances, thecooperating ED may also be referred to as the cooperating user equipment(CUE), and the assisted ED may also be referred to as the assisted userequipment (UE), source UE (SUE) (e.g., in cases where the assisted ED isthe source of data for a uplink transmission) or target UE (TUE) (e.g.,in cases where the assisted ED is the target recipient of data for adownlink transmission). The configuration or enabling of the mode ofcooperation, and the configuration or enabling of a particular mode ofcooperation (e.g., relay mode or joint communication mode) may bespecific to a particular assisted ED or particular group of assistedEDs, for example.

The relay mode and the joint communication mode may be modes of EDcooperation that are implemented using cooperative multi-UEmultiple-input multiple-output (MU-MIMO) technology. Cooperative MU-MIMOmay enable two or more EDs to jointly transmit data originating from oneED.

When two EDs are cooperating using the relay mode, the cooperating EDmay operate to relay data (e.g., UL or DL data) between the assisted EDand the network (e.g., as base station (BS)). When two EDs arecooperating using the joint communication mode, the cooperating ED andthe assisted ED may jointly transmit data, originating from the assistedED, over uplink (UL) connections to the network. The joint communicationmode may also be used for downlink (DL) communications, in which thecooperating ED and the assisted ED may jointly receive data, intendedfor the assisted ED, over DL connections. In general, in cooperative ULtransmissions the assisted ED may be a data source and the BS may be theintended recipient, and in cooperative DL transmissions the BS may be adata source and the assisted ED may be the intended recipient. In thepresent disclosure, data may refer to actual data (e.g., content, ordata packets). However, it should be understood that the examplesdescribed herein may also be implemented for communication of controldata.

In examples disclosed herein, the coordination of ED cooperation (e.g.,enabling/disabling of cooperation mode and/or selection of the type ofcooperation) may be via a control signal from the BS and/or the assistedED. The control signal may be a lower layer signal (e.g., a physicallayer or L1 signal) and/or a higher layer signal (e.g., a logical linkcontrol (LLC) signal). In the joint communication mode, data splittingmay be used to split the data transmission between the cooperating EDand the assisted ED (with or without duplication of data).

In various examples, the present disclosure may enable an ED to, whencooperation mode is enabled, switch between operation in relay mode andjoint communication mode. In some examples, an ED may operate in relaymode when cooperating with a first other ED and operate in jointcommunication mode when cooperating with a second other ED. The examplesdisclosed herein may help to enable cooperation among EDs, which mayhelp to improve system performance, in terms of coverage and throughput.

To assist in understanding the present disclosure, an example wirelesscommunication system is described below.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example wireless communication system 100 (alsoreferred to as wireless system 100) in which embodiments of the presentdisclosure could be implemented. In general, the wireless system 100enables multiple wireless or wired elements to communicate data andother content. The wireless system 100 may enable content (e.g., voice,data, video, text, etc.) to be communicated (e.g., via broadcast,narrowcast, user device to user device, etc.) among entities of thesystem 100. The wireless system 100 may operate by sharing resourcessuch as bandwidth. The wireless system 100 may be suitable for wirelesscommunications using 5G technology and/or later generation wirelesstechnology. In some examples, the wireless system 100 may alsoaccommodate some legacy wireless technology (e.g., 3G or 4G wirelesstechnology).

In the example shown, the wireless system 100 includes EDs 110, radioaccess networks (RANs) 120, a core network 130, a public switchedtelephone network (PSTN) 140, the internet 150, and other networks 160.In some examples, one or more of the networks may be omitted or replacedby a different type of network. Other networks may be included in thewireless system 100. Although certain numbers of these components orelements are shown in FIG. 1 , any reasonable number of these componentsor elements may be included in the wireless system 100.

The EDs 110 are configured to operate, communicate, or both, in thewireless system 100. For example, the EDs 110 may be configured totransmit, receive, or both via wireless or wired communication channels.Each ED 110 represents any suitable end user device for wirelessoperation and may include such devices (or may be referred to) as a userequipment (UE), a wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU), a mobilestation, a mobile relay, a fixed or mobile subscriber unit, a cellulartelephone, a station (STA), a machine type communication (MTC) device, apersonal digital assistant (PDA), a smartphone, a laptop, a computer, atablet, a wireless sensor, an internet of things (IoT) device, or aconsumer electronics device, among other possibilities. Futuregeneration EDs 110 may be referred to using other terms.

In FIG. 1 , the RANs 120 include BSs 170. Although FIG. 1 shows each RAN120 including a single respective BS 170, it should be understood thatany given RAN 120 may include more than one BS 170, and any given RAN120 may also include base station controller(s) (BSC), radio networkcontroller(s) (RNC), relay nodes, elements, and/or devices. Each BS 170is configured to wirelessly interface with one or more of the EDs 110 toenable access to any other BS 170, the core network 130, the PSTN 140,the internet 150, and/or the other networks 160. For example, the BSs170 may also be referred to as (or include) a base transceiver station(BTS), a radio base station, a Node-B (NodeB), an evolved NodeB (eNodeBor eNB), a Home eNodeB, a gNodeB (gNB) (sometimes called anext-generation Node B), a transmission point (TP), atransmission/reception point (TRP), a site controller, an access point(AP), or a wireless router, among other possibilities. Future generationBSs 170 may be referred to using other terms. Any ED 110 may bealternatively or additionally configured to interface, access, orcommunicate with any other BS 170, the internet 150, the core network130, the PSTN 140, the other networks 160, or any combination of thepreceding. In some examples, a BS 170 may access the core network 130via the internet 150.

The EDs 110 and BSs 170 are examples of communication equipment that canbe used to implement some or all of the functionality and/or embodimentsdescribed herein. Any BS 170 may be a single element, as shown, ormultiple elements, distributed in the corresponding RAN 120, orotherwise. Each BS 170 transmits and/or receives wireless signals withina particular geographic region or area, sometimes referred to as a“cell” or “coverage area”. A cell may be further divided into cellsectors, and a BS 170 may, for example, employ multiple transceivers toprovide service to multiple sectors. In some embodiments there may beestablished pico or femto cells where the radio access technologysupports such. A macro cell may encompass one or more smaller cells. Insome embodiments, multiple transceivers could be used for each cell, forexample using multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) technology. Thenumber of RANs 120 shown is exemplary only. Any number of RANs may becontemplated when devising the wireless system 100.

The BSs 170 communicate with one or more of the EDs 110 over one or moreUu wireless interfaces 190 (e.g., via radio frequency (RF), microwave,infrared (IR), etc.). The Uu interface 190 may also be referred to as aUu link, Uu connection, ED-BS link/connection/interface, or ED-networklink/connection/interface, for example. The EDs 110 may also communicatedirectly with one another (i.e., without involving the BS 170) via oneor more sidelink (SL) wireless interfaces 195. The SL interface may alsobe referred to as a SL connection, ED-ED link/connection/interface,device-to-device (D2D) link/connection/interface, or simply as SL, forexample. The wireless interfaces 190, 195 may utilize any suitable radioaccess technology. For example, the wireless system 100 may implementone or more channel access methods, such as code division multipleaccess (CDMA), time division multiple access (TDMA), frequency divisionmultiple access (FDMA), orthogonal FDMA (OFDMA), or single-carrier FDMA(SC-FDMA) for wireless communications.

The RANs 120 are in communication with the core network 130 to providethe EDs 110 with various services such as voice, data, and otherservices. The RANs 120 and/or the core network 130 may be in direct orindirect communication with one or more other RANs (not shown), whichmay or may not be directly served by core network 130, and may or maynot employ the same radio access technology. The core network 130 mayalso serve as a gateway access between (i) the RANs 120 or EDs 110 orboth, and (ii) other networks (such as the PSTN 140, the internet 150,and the other networks 160). In addition, some or all of the EDs 110 mayinclude functionality for communicating with different wireless networksover different wireless links using different wireless technologiesand/or protocols. Instead of wireless communication (or in additionthereto), the EDs 110 may communicate via wired communication channelsto a service provider or switch (not shown), and to the internet 150.PSTN 140 may include circuit switched telephone networks for providingplain old telephone service (POTS). The internet 150 may include anetwork of computers and subnets (intranets) or both, and incorporateprotocols, such as Internet Protocol (IP), Transmission Control Protocol(TCP), User Datagram Protocol (UDP). The EDs 110 may be multimodedevices capable of operation according to multiple radio accesstechnologies, and incorporate multiple transceivers necessary to supportsuch.

FIGS. 2 and 3 illustrate example devices that may implement the methodsand teachings according to this disclosure. FIG. 2 illustrates anexample BS 170, and FIG. 3 illustrates an example ED 110. Thesecomponents could be used in the wireless system 100 or in any othersuitable system.

As shown in FIG. 2 , the BS 170 includes at least one processing unit201. The processing unit 201 implements various processing operations ofthe BS 170. For example, the processing unit 201 could perform signalcoding, data processing, power control, input/output processing, or anyother functionality of the BS 170. The processing unit 201 may also beconfigured to implement some or all of the functionality and/orembodiments described in more detail herein. Each processing unit 201includes any suitable processing or computing device configured toperform one or more operations. Each processing unit 201 could, forexample, include a microprocessor, microcontroller, digital signalprocessor, field programmable gate array, or application specificintegrated circuit.

The BS 170 also includes at least one communication interface 202 forwired and/or wireless communications. Each communication interface 202includes any suitable structure for generating signals for wireless orwired transmission and/or processing signals received wirelessly or bywire. The BS 170 in this example includes at least one antenna 204 (inother examples, the antenna 204 may be omitted). Each antenna 204includes any suitable structure for transmitting and/or receivingwireless or wired signals. One or multiple communication interfaces 202could be used in the BS 170. One or multiple antennas 204 could be usedin the BS 170. In some examples, one or more antennas 204 may be anantenna array 204, which may be used to perform beamforming and beamsteering operations. Although shown as a single functional unit, a BS170 could also be implemented using at least one transmitter interfaceand at least one separate receiver interface.

The BS 170 further includes one or more input/output devices 206 orinput/output interfaces (such as a wired interface to the internet 150).The input/output device(s) 206 permit interaction with a user or otherdevices in the network. Each input/output device 206 includes anysuitable structure for providing information to or receiving informationfrom a user, such as a speaker, microphone, keypad, keyboard, display,or touchscreen, including network interface communications.

In addition, the BS 170 includes at least one memory 208. The memory 208stores instructions and data used, generated, or collected by the BS170. For example, the memory 208 could store software instructions ormodules configured to implement some or all of the functionality and/orembodiments described herein and that are executed by the processingunit(s) 201. Each memory 208 includes any suitable volatile and/ornon-volatile storage and retrieval device(s). Any suitable type ofmemory may be used, such as random access memory (RAM), read only memory(ROM), hard disk, optical disc, subscriber identity module (SIM) card,memory stick, secure digital (SD) memory card, and the like.

As shown in FIG. 3 , the ED 110 includes at least one processing unit250, at least one transmitter 252, at least one receiver 254, one ormore antennas 256, at least one memory 258, and one or more input/outputdevices or interfaces 266. The processing unit 250 implements variousprocessing operations of the ED 110, such as signal coding, dataprocessing, power control, input/output processing, or any otherfunctionality. The processing unit 250 can also be configured toimplement some or all of the functionality and/or embodiments describedherein. Each processing unit 250 includes any suitable processing orcomputing device configured to perform one or more operations. Eachprocessing unit 250 could, for example, include a microprocessor,microcontroller, digital signal processor, field programmable gatearray, or application specific integrated circuit.

Each transmitter 252 includes any suitable structure for generatingsignals for wireless or wired transmission. Each receiver 254 includesany suitable structure for processing signals received wirelessly or bywire. Although shown as separate components, at least one transmitter252 and at least one receiver 254 could be combined into a transceiver.Each antenna 256 includes any suitable structure for transmitting and/orreceiving wireless or wired signals. Although a common antenna 256 isshown here as being coupled to both the transmitter 252 and the receiver254, one or more antennas 256 could be coupled to the transmitter(s)252, and one or more separate antennas 256 could be coupled to thereceiver(s) 254. In some examples, one or more antennas 256 may be anantenna array, which may be used for beamforming and beam steeringoperations. Each memory 258 includes any suitable volatile and/ornon-volatile storage and retrieval device(s) such as those describedabove with respect to FIG. 2 . The memory 258 stores instructions anddata used, generated, or collected by the ED 110. For example, thememory 258 could store software instructions or modules configured toimplement some or all of the functionality and/or embodiments describedherein and that are executed by the processing unit(s) 250.

Each input/output device/interface 266 permits interaction with a useror other devices in the network. Each input/output device/interface 266includes any suitable structure for providing information to orreceiving/providing information from a user, including network interfacecommunications.

An ED 110 may support operation in cooperation mode (e.g., capable ofimplementing cooperative MU-MIMO technology), in which two or more EDscooperate with each other, using communications over the SL interface195, to help improve communications with the BS 170. When operating incooperation mode, two EDs 110 may be cooperating using a relay mode or ajoint communication mode. In some instances, cooperative MU-MIMOtechnology may be used in joint communication mode, but may not berequired or used in relay mode.

FIG. 4 illustrates example operation of EDs cooperating in a relay mode.In this example, the cooperating ED 110 b serves to relay data (e.g., ULand/or DL data) between the BS 170 and the assisted ED 110 a. Thecooperating ED 110 b and the assisted ED 110 a may be generally referredto as EDs 110. This mode of cooperation may be similar to operation ofconventional relays, which may be used to help improve system coverageto the assisted ED 110 that would otherwise have poor coverage (e.g., islocated at cell edge or indoors). For UL communications, the assisted ED110 a communicates data to the cooperating ED 110 b over the SLinterface 195, and the cooperating ED 110 b relays this data to the BS170 (or other network node) over the Uu interface 190. The data that isshared by the assisted ED 110 a may include explicit information (e.g.,an identifier label, or header information) or implicit information(e.g., the device identifier of the assisted ED 110 a may be applied asa mask to error check bits) identifying the assisted ED 110 a as theoriginating source of this data. For DL communications, the cooperatingED 110 b may receive data, which is intended for the assisted ED 110 a,from the BS 170 (or other network node) and relay this data to theassisted ED 110 a. The data that is to be relayed may include explicitinformation (e.g., a relay flag, or identifier of the intendedrecipient) or implicit information (e.g., the device identifier of theintended recipient may be used to mask the encode error check bits) toindicate to the cooperating ED 110 b that this data should be relayed,and to indicate the intended recipient of this data. The cooperating ED110 a may also serve as a relay between the assisted ED 110 a and athird ED (not shown).

FIGS. 5A and 5B illustrate example operations of EDs cooperating injoint communication modes. Under joint communication mode, the assistedED 110 a may directly communicate with the BS 170 over the Uu interface190 (e.g., as shown in FIG. 5A), or the assisted ED 110 a may not beinvolved in directed communication with the BS 170 (e.g., as shown inFIG. 5B). Joint communication mode may help to improve system throughputon the Uu interface 190, by enabling two or more EDs to jointlycommunicate data that is originating from or intended for the assistedED 110 a.

Cooperative MU-MIMO technology may be used to enable data to be jointlytransmitted. In some examples, a block of data may be split into two ormore portions and different portions may be transmitted by different EDs110 in a joint communication. The jointly transmitted portions of datamay need to be reassembled at the recipient (e.g., at the BS 170).Information for properly reassembling these portions of data may beexplicitly or implicitly for the joint communication, as discussedfurther below.

FIG. 5A is now described in further detail. For simplicity, FIG. 5A willbe described with reference to UL communication of data. However, itshould be understood that similar operations (in the reverse direction)may be performed for DL communication of data. For implementation of thejoint communication mode for DL communication, the assisted ED 110 a maybe notified (e.g., via an indicator contained in a DCI message, asdiscussed further below) ahead of the joint communication so that theassisted ED 110 a may be appropriately prepared to receive data overboth the Uu interface 190 and the SL interface 195. For UL communicationusing joint communication mode, data originates from the assisted ED 110a. The assisted ED 110 a shares some or all of the data with one or morecooperating EDs 110 b over the SL interface 195. The cooperating ED(s)110 b and the assisted ED 110 a together jointly transmit the data(which originated from the assisted ED 110 a) to the BS 170 (or othernetwork node), or another ED (not shown). The data transmitted by thecooperating ED(s) 110 b may be the same as, partly different from, orentirely different from the data transmitted by the assisted ED 110 a.If there are two or more cooperating EDs 110 b involved in this jointcommunication, each cooperating ED 110 b may transmit the same, partlydifferent, or entirely different data from each other. Jointcommunication of the same data by multiple EDs 110 (e.g., block of datais duplicated over the EDs 110 a) may help to improve or maintain systemperformance (e.g., enabling higher data fidelity and/or better errorcorrection), for example at the cell edge. Joint communication ofdifferent data by multiple EDs 110 s (e.g., block of data is split amongthe EDs 110 s) may help to improve system throughput, for example byenabling a large block of data to be split among multiple differenttransmission streams by multiple EDs 110 (or, in the case of DLcommunications, by enabling a large block of data to be split amongmultiple different receiving datastreams of multiple EDs 110). For bothUL and DL communications using joint communication mode, optionally thecooperating ED 110 b may be sent an indicator to enable jointcommunication mode. In some examples, it may not be necessary to notifythe cooperating ED 110 b to use joint communication mode, because thecooperating ED 110 b simply forwards whatever data is received withoutknowledge of whether joint communication mode or relay mode is beingused. In other words, the cooperating ED 110 b may act as a relayregardless of whether relay mode or joint communication mode is beingused.

FIG. 5B is now described in further detail. For simplicity, FIG. 5B willbe described with reference to UL communication of data. However, itshould be understood that similar operations (in the reverse direction)may be performed for DL communication of data. For UL communicationusing joint communication mode, data originates from the assisted ED 110a. Similarly to the operation described with respect to FIG. 5A, theassisted ED 110 a shares some or all of the data with cooperating EDs110 b over the SL interface 195. Unlike the example of FIG. 5A, in theexample of FIG. 5B, the assisted ED 110 a is not itself involved in thejoint communication over the Uu interface 190 (e.g., due to the assistedED 110 a being outside of the coverage area, or having poor channelquality). The two or more cooperating EDs 110 b together jointlytransmit the data (which originated from the assisted ED 110 a) to theBS 170 (or other network node), or another ED (not shown). Eachcooperating ED 110 b may transmit the same, partly different, orentirely different data from each other. Joint communication ofdifferent data by multiple EDs 110 s may help to improve systemthroughput, for example by enabling a large block of data to be splitamong multiple different transmission streams by multiple EDs 110 (or,in the case of DL communications, by enabling a large block of data tobe split among multiple different receiving data streams of multiple EDs110).

These two modes of cooperation, namely relay mode and jointcommunication mode, could be used selectively and at the same ordifferent times to achieve certain goals. The assisted ED 110 a may behelped by the relay mode or the joint communication mode, in differentscenarios. For example, if the assisted ED 110 a is in a coverage holeand may not have large amount of data to transmit/receive on the Uuinterface 190, the assisted ED 110 a may cooperate with the cooperatingED 110 b in the relay mode (e.g., as shown in FIG. 4 ). In anothersituation, if the assisted ED 110 a has large amount of data totransmit/receive on the Uu interface 190, the assisted ED 110 a and oneor more cooperating EDs 110 b may jointly transmit/receive the data inthe joint communication mode (e.g., as shown in FIG. 5A or FIG. 5B).

Therefore, it may be useful for the ED 110 to support both the relaymode and the joint communication mode of cooperation, and to selectoperation in a certain mode of cooperation. The selection of aparticular mode of cooperation may be simultaneous with or subsequent toenabling of the cooperation mode. For example, the ED 110 may, whencooperation mode is enabled, operate in the relay mode by default untilthe joint communication mode is explicitly selected. In another example,the ED 110 may have cooperation mode enabled by default (or may alwaysbe enabled) and the ED 110 simply switches between relay mode and jointcommunication mode. The present disclosure describes examples of howconfiguration/indication may be signaled. The present disclosure alsodescribes examples of how data splitting may be implemented, in thejoint communication mode.

In some examples, it may not be necessary for the cooperating ED 110 bto select between relay mode and joint communication mode. For example,regardless of whether the cooperation is relay mode or jointcommunication mode, the cooperating ED 110 b may simply operate decodeand forward functions, and the cooperating ED 110 b may not need to knowwhether the data being forwarded is part of a joint communication. Thus,joint communication mode may be transparent to the cooperating ED 110 b,and the cooperating ED 110 b may only need to be configured for relaymode. In this way, only the assisted ED 110 a may need to select betweenrelay mode and joint communication mode. Further, the assisted ED 110 amay use either cooperation mode with any cooperating ED 110 b that iscapable of operating as a relay, such that EDs (e.g., legacy EDs) thatare not explicitly configured for or not explicitly supporting jointcommunication mode may still act in the role of the cooperating ED 110b. In general, an ED may participate in the examples described herein tothe extent that it can be configured to the different modes ofcooperation (e.g., whether the ED supports the relay mode ofcooperation, the joint communication mode of cooperation, or both).

FIGS. 6A-6D are signaling diagrams illustrating example data flows forcoordination of the modes of cooperation. In these figures, the BS 170,assisted ED 110 a and cooperating ED 110 b are shown in the singular forsimplicity. It should be understood that this is not intended to belimiting. For example, as discussed above, there may be more than onecooperating ED 110 b cooperating with one assisted ED 110 a. Further, aswill be discussed below, there may be more than one assisted ED 110 acooperating with one cooperating ED 110 b. FIGS. 6A and 6B show dataflows for implementing ED cooperation in UL transmissions. FIGS. 6C and6D show data flows for implementing ED cooperation in DL transmissions.One skilled in the art would understand that modifications may be madeto adapt these data flows for different scenarios.

FIG. 6A is described first. FIG. 6A illustrates a set of data flows inwhich a mode of cooperation is initiated by the BS 170. The BS 170transmits a signal 605 (e.g., control signal, such as a radio resourcecontrol (RRC) signal and/or a downlink control information (DCI)message) to the assisted ED 110 a, and optionally to the cooperating ED110 b, to indicate the mode of cooperation (e.g., relay mode or jointcommunication mode) to be used. If the joint communication mode isindicated, the signal 605 may further indicate whether data duplicationor data splitting should be used. The BS 170 may, for example, determinewhich mode of cooperation to be used based on detected channelconditions (e.g., measured channel quality between the BS 170 and theassisted ED 110 a and/or feedback information received from the EDs110), detected mobility of the assisted ED 110 a, or other factors. TheBS 170 may further indicate which ED should be used as the cooperatingED 110 b (e.g., based on which ED has better channel conditions) and mayinclude indication of one or more preferred cooperating EDs 110 b in thesignal 605. If the BS 170 does not identify any preferred cooperating ED110 b (or if the assisted ED 110 a is unable to establish a SL interfacewith the identified preferred cooperating ED 110 b, for example), theassisted ED 110 a may identify and select the cooperating ED 110 b, forexample using suitable discovery procedures.

In some examples, the BS 170 may not transmit the signal 605 directly tothe assisted ED 110 a (e.g., the assisted ED 110 a may be outside ofcoverage). The BS 170 may instead transmit the signal 605 to thecooperating ED 110 b, with an indicator that the signal 605 should berelayed (via the cooperating ED 110 b) to the assisted ED 110 a. Thismay be the case for a relay mode of cooperation, for example.

Optionally, the BS 170 may transmit a scheduling signal 610 to scheduleresources for UL transmission by the assisted ED 110 a and thecooperating ED 110 b. In examples in which the scheduling signal 610 isnot sent, the assisted ED 110 a and the cooperating ED 110 b may use apre-configured grant (e.g., pre-configured scheduling information) toenable cooperation mode, including both the relay and jointcommunication modes.

Receipt of the signal 605 by the assisted ED 110 a causes the assistedED 110 a to perform operations in accordance with the indicated mode ofcooperation. If the joint communication mode is indicated by the signal605, the assisted ED 110 a may perform data duplication or datasplitting, and share the duplicated or a portion of the split data withthe cooperating ED 110 b over a SL (615). If the relay mode is indicatedby the signal 605, the assisted ED 110 a may share the data over the SL(615) without performing data duplication or data splitting. In someexamples, the transmission 615 over the SL interface may provideinformation to the cooperating ED 110 b about the indicated mode ofcooperation (e.g., if the BS 170 did not transmit the signal 605 to thecooperating ED 110 b). In some examples, the cooperating ED 110 b maynot require the signal 605 from the BS 170 and also may not requireindication of the mode of cooperation from the assisted ED 110 a. Forexample, the cooperating ED 110 b may use a relay mode of cooperation bydefault. The cooperating ED 110 b may not need to know the mode ofcooperation, for example the cooperating ED 110 b may simply relay datawithout requiring knowledge whether the relay mode or the jointcommunication mode is being used.

In joint communication mode, the shared data (either duplicated data ora portion of the split data) is transmitted UL, over the Uu interface,from the cooperating ED 110 b to the BS 170 (620). A joint ULtransmission of data (625) (either the duplicated data or anotherportion of the split data) is performed by the assisted ED 110 a and/oroptionally by another cooperating ED 110 b (not shown). The BS 170receives the jointly transmitted data and processes the dataaccordingly. For example, if data splitting was performed, the BS 170may identify the portions of data (e.g., using information contained inheaders associated with the data) and reassemble the portions in orderto recover the complete data.

In relay mode, the shared data is entirely transmitted UL from thecooperating ED 110 b to the BS 170 (630). The BS 170 may identify thereceived data as originated from the assisted ED 110 a (e.g., based onhaving instructed the assisted ED 110 a to use the relay mode, or basedon information provided with the data such as in a header).

It should be noted that the indication of the mode of cooperation (605)may need to be transmitted only to enable and/or switch the mode ofcooperation. For example, sharing data over the SL interface (615) andjoint communication of data (620 and 625) may be performed repeatedlywhile remaining in the joint communication mode of cooperation, withoutrequiring any further control signal 605 from the BS 170. The signal 605may be transmitted again only when the mode of cooperation is to bechanged (e.g., from joint communication mode to relay mode, or viceversa).

FIG. 6B is now described. FIG. 6B illustrates a set of data flows inwhich a mode of cooperation is initiated by the assisted ED 110 a. FIG.6B is similar to FIG. 6A, with the difference that instead of the BS 170transmitting the signal 605, the assisted ED 110 a instead transmits asignal 655 to indicate the mode of cooperation to the BS 170 andoptionally to the cooperating ED 110 b. The signal 655 to thecooperating ED 110 b may be, for example, a sidelink control information(SCI) message and/or a sidelink physical layer (PC5) RRC signal, and/orin the form of a packet over the SL interface. The signal 655 to the BS170 may be, for example, over a direct link to the BS 170 such as in aUu RRC, a media access control (MAC) control element (CE), over thephysical uplink control channel (PUCCH), or over the physical uplinkshared channel (PUSCH). In some examples, if the assisted ED 110 a doesnot transmit the signal 655 to the cooperating ED 110 b, the BS 170 mayinstead provide information indicating the mode of cooperation to thecooperating ED 110 b. In some examples, the cooperating ED 110 b may notrequire the signal 655 from the assisted ED 110 a and also may notrequire indication of the mode of cooperation from the BS 170. Forexample, the cooperating ED 110 b may use a relay mode of cooperation bydefault. The cooperating ED 110 b may not need to know the mode ofcooperation, for example the cooperating ED 110 b may simply relay datawithout requiring knowledge whether the relay mode or the jointcommunication mode is being used. If the joint communication mode isindicated, the signal 655 may further indicate whether data duplicationor data splitting will be used. The assisted ED 110 a may, for example,determine which mode of cooperation to be used based on detected channelconditions between itself and the intended recipient (e.g., the BS 170),its own detected mobility, or other factors. Having determined the modeof cooperation and indicated the mode of cooperation to the BS 170 (andoptionally to the cooperating ED 110 b), the assisted ED 110 a mayperform operations in accordance with the indicated mode of cooperation,as discussed above.

In some examples, the signal 655 may be transmitted to the BS 170 inorder to trigger the BS 170 to properly schedule UL transmissionresources, for example. In the case of joint communication mode, thesignal 655 may carry information to enable the BS 170 to properly decodeand reassemble the jointly transmitted data.

In some examples, the signal 655 may not be transmitted to the BS 170.For example, in the case of the relay mode of cooperation, the assistedED 110 a may not have a direct connection with the BS 170 (e.g., theassisted ED 110 a is outside of system coverage). In such a case, thesignal 655 may be transmitted only to the cooperating ED 110 b, or thesignal 655 may not be transmitted at all.

Other signals shown in FIG. 6B are similar to those discussed withrespect to FIG. 6A, and will not be repeated here. Similar to theexample of FIG. 6A, in the example of FIG. 6B the scheduling signal 610may be optional. If the scheduling signal 610 is not sent, the assistedED 110 a and the cooperating ED 110 b may use a pre-configured grant(e.g., pre-configured scheduling information) to enable cooperationmode, including both the relay and joint communication modes. Similar tothe data flow of FIG. 6A, the signal 655 may only need to be transmittedto enable and/or switch the mode of cooperation.

FIG. 6C is now described. FIG. 6C illustrates a set of data flows inwhich a mode of cooperation, for DL communication, is initiated by theBS 170. The signals 605 and 610 are similar to those described withreference to FIG. 6A, and will not be described again here except tonote the difference that in the example of FIG. 6C the optional signal610 is for scheduling DL transmission. Similar to the examples of FIGS.6A and 6B, in the example of FIG. 6C the scheduling signal 610 may beoptional. If the scheduling signal 610 is not sent, the assisted ED 110a and the cooperating ED 110 b may use a pre-configured grant (e.g.,pre-configured scheduling information) to enable cooperation mode,including both the relay and joint communication modes.

Receipt of the signal 605 by the assisted ED 110 a (and optionallyreceipt of the signal 605 by the cooperating ED 110 b) causes theassisted ED 110 a (and optionally the cooperating ED 110 b) to performoperations in accordance with the indicated mode of cooperation. If thejoint communication mode is indicated by the signal 605, the assisted ED110 a may prepare itself to receive data over both the Uu interface andthe SL interface. If the relay mode is indicated by the signal 605, theassisted ED 110 a may only need to be prepared to receive data over theSL interface. The BS 170 transmits data (665) to the cooperating ED 110b over the Uu interface. In the relay mode of cooperation, thetransmission 665 may be the entirety of the data to be relayed to theassisted ED 110 a. In the joint communication mode of cooperation, thetransmission 665 may be duplicated data or a portion of split data. Insome examples, the transmission 665 over the Uu interface may provideinformation to the cooperating ED 110 b about the indicated mode ofcooperation (e.g., if the BS 170 did not transmit the signal 605 to thecooperating ED 110 b).

In joint communication mode, the shared data (either duplicated data ora portion of the split data) is transmitted, over the SL interface, fromthe cooperating ED 110 b (and optionally by another cooperating ED 110 b(not shown)) to the assisted ED 110 a (670). A joint transmission ofdata (675) (either the duplicated data or another portion of the splitdata) may be performed by the BS 170 over the Uu interface. The assistedED 110 a receives the jointly transmitted data and processes the dataaccordingly. For example, if data splitting was performed, the assistedED 110 a may identify the portions of data (e.g., using informationcontained in headers associated with the data) and reassemble theportions in order to recover the complete data.

In relay mode, the shared data is entirely transmitted over the SLinterface from the cooperating ED 110 b to the assisted ED 110 a (680).The assisted ED 110 a may identify the received data as originating fromthe BS 170 (e.g., based on having instructed the assisted ED 110 a touse the relay mode, or based on information provided with the data suchas in a header).

FIG. 6D is now described. FIG. 6D illustrates a set of data flows inwhich a mode of cooperation, for DL communication of data, is initiatedby the assisted ED 110 a. The signals 655, 610, 665, 670, 675 and 680are similar to those described above with respect to FIGS. 6A-6C (notingthat the optional scheduling signal is for scheduling of DLtransmission), and the details will not be repeated in detail here. Oneskilled in the art would understand the example illustrated in FIG. 6Dbased on the descriptions above and the data flows as shown in FIG. 6D.Similar to the examples of FIGS. 6-6C, in the example of FIG. 6D thescheduling signal 610 may be optional. If the scheduling signal 610 isnot sent, the assisted ED 110 a and the cooperating ED 110 b may use apre-configured grant (e.g., pre-configured scheduling information) toenable cooperation mode, including both the relay and jointcommunication modes.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating an example operation of the assistedED 110 a, using ED cooperation for UL communications. The methodillustrated in FIG. 7 may be performed by the ED 110 a, usinginstructions stored in a memory and executed by a processing unit (seeFIG. 3 , for example).

Optionally, at 705, cooperation mode may first be enabled at theassisted ED 110 a (e.g., in response to a control signal from the BS170, or in response to the ED 110 a itself determining a need for EDcooperation). Cooperation mode may need to be enabled in order for EDcooperation to take place. In some examples, ED cooperation may alwaysbe enabled or may be enabled by default, and it may not be necessary toenable cooperation mode, in which case 705 may be omitted.

At 710, the assisted ED 110 a determines the mode of cooperation (e.g.,relay mode or joint communication mode). This determination may be basedon a control signal received from the BS 170 (e.g., the signal 605 inthe data flow of FIG. 6A) or may be determined by the ED 110 a itself(e.g., in the data flow of FIG. 6B). If the assisted ED 110 a itselfdetermines the mode of cooperation, optionally the assisted ED 110 a maytransmit an indicator of the determined mode of cooperation to the BS170 and/or to the cooperating ED 110 b.

If the relay mode is determined, the method proceeds to 730, describedfurther below. If the joint communication mode is determined, the methodproceeds to 715.

At 715, the type of joint communication is determined. Again, thisdetermination may be based on a control signal received from the BS 170(e.g., the signal 605 in the data flow of FIG. 6A) or may be determinedby the ED 110 a itself (e.g., in the data flow of FIG. 6B).

If data duplication is determined, then at 720 the data is duplicated.

If data splitting is determined, then at 725 the data is split. Datasplitting may be performed in various ways, as discussed further below.

At 730, data is shared with the cooperating ED 110 b over a SLinterface. The shared data may be the entire data (in the case of relaymode), the duplicated data (in the case of joint communication mode withdata duplication) or a portion of the split data (in the case of jointcommunication mode with data splitting). The assisted ED 110 a may ormay not provide information (in the same or separate transmission overthe SL interface) to the cooperating ED 110 b about whether the shareddata is for a joint communication (and, in the case of a jointcommunication the assisted ED 110 a may or may not inform thecooperating ED 110 b whether the shared data is duplicated data or aportion of split data). It may be sufficient for the shared data to beindicated as data that is to be relayed to the BS 170, such that thejoint communication mode is transparent to the cooperating ED 110 b.

Optionally, if using joint communication mode and the assisted ED 110 ais itself performing a joint communication, at 735 the assisted ED 110 atransmits data over the Uu interface. The data transmitted by theassisted ED 110 a may be the duplicated data (in the case of jointcommunication mode with data duplication) or a portion of the split data(in the case of joint communication mode with data splitting).

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating an example operation of thecooperating ED 110 b, using ED cooperation for UL communications. Themethod illustrated in FIG. 8 may be performed by the ED 110 b, usinginstructions stored in a memory and executed by a processing unit (seeFIG. 3 , for example). The method illustrated in FIG. 8 may be performedby the cooperating ED 110 b in cooperation with the assisted ED 110 aperforming the method of FIG. 7 .

Optionally, at 805, cooperation mode may first be enabled at thecooperating ED 110 b (e.g., in response to a signal from the BS 170, orfrom the assisted ED 110 a). Cooperation mode may need to be enabled inorder for ED cooperation to take place. In some examples, ED cooperationmay always be enabled or may be enabled by default, and it may not benecessary to enable cooperation mode, in which case 805 may be omitted.

At 810, the cooperating ED 110 b receives data, from the assisted ED 110a, over the SL interface. The received data may be duplicated data or aportion of split data, in the case of joint communication mode. Thecooperating ED 110 b may or may not be informed about whether thereceived data is duplicated data or a portion of split data, or whetherthe data is part of a joint communication. It may be sufficient for thecooperating ED 110 b to have an indication that the received data shouldbe forwarded to the BS 170.

Optionally, at 815, the cooperating ED 110 b determines the mode ofcooperation (e.g., relay mode or joint communication mode). Thisdetermination may be based on a control signal received from the BS 170(e.g., the signal 605 in the data flow of FIG. 6A) or may be determinedbased on a signal received from the assisted ED 110 a (e.g., the signal655 in the data flow of FIG. 6B). In some cases, the cooperating ED 110b may receive such a signal (and may thus determine the mode ofcooperation) prior to receiving data over the SL interface, such thatthe order of 810 and 815 may be switched. If the relay mode isdetermined, the method proceeds to 825. If the joint communication modeis determined, the method proceeds to optional 820. In some examples,the cooperating ED 110 b may not be informed about whether the mode ofcooperation is relay mode or joint communication mode. As discussedpreviously, the mode of cooperation may be transparent to thecooperating ED 110 b, and the ED 110 b may simply forward the shareddata regardless of the mode of cooperation, or the cooperating ED 110 bmay use a relay mode by default. Accordingly, 815 may be omitted.

If 815 is performed and the joint communication mode is determined, thenoptionally 820 may be performed to label the data that is to beforwarded as part of a joint communication (and, if the data has beensplit, which portion of the split data is being forwarded by thecooperating ED 110 b). Such labeling of the forwarded data may help theBS 170 to reassemble the data from the multiple joint communications.The ability of the cooperating ED 110 b to label the data in this mannermay require the cooperating ED 110 b to be provided with informationabout the type of data in the joint communication (e.g., duplicated dataor split data). Such information may be provided to the cooperating ED110 b by a control signal received from the BS 170 (e.g., the signal 605in the data flow of FIG. 6A) or a signal received from the assisted ED110 a (e.g., the signal 655 in the data flow of FIG. 6B).

At 825, the shared data is transmitted by the cooperating ED 110 b overthe Uu interface.

As previously discussed, ED cooperation may also be useful to helpimprove DL communications (to help extend system coverage and/or to helpimprove system throughput). The implementation of different modes ofcooperation, for DL communications, may be similar to that for ULcommunications discussed above, but in the reverse direction (e.g., withthe data originating from the BS 170 and received at the assisted ED 110a).

FIG. 9A is a flowchart illustrating an example operation of the BS 170when ED cooperation is used for DL communications. The methodillustrated in FIG. 9A may be performed by the BS 170, usinginstructions stored in a memory and executed by a processing unit (seeFIG. 2 , for example).

Optionally, at 905, cooperation mode may first be enabled at theassisted ED 110 a (e.g., by sending a control signal from the BS 170).Cooperation mode may need to be enabled in order for ED cooperation totake place. In some examples, ED cooperation may always be enabled atthe EDs 110 or may be enabled at the EDs 110 by default, and it may notbe necessary to enable cooperation mode, in which case 905 may beomitted.

At 910, the BS 170 determines the mode of cooperation (e.g., relay modeor joint communication mode). This determination may be determined bythe BS 170 itself (e.g., in the data flow of FIG. 6A) or may bedetermined based on a signal received from the assisted ED 110 a (e.g.,the signal 655 in the data flow of FIG. 6B). If the BS 170 itselfdetermines the mode of cooperation, the BS 170 may transmit an indicatorof the determined mode of cooperation to the assisted ED 110 a and/oroptionally to the cooperating ED 110 b. In some examples, an indicatormay only be transmitted to enable the joint communication mode ofcooperation at the EDs 110, and in the absence of an explicit indicatorthe relay mode of cooperation may be used by default.

If the relay mode is determined, the method proceeds to 930, describedfurther below. If the joint communication mode is determined, the methodproceeds to 915.

At 915, the type of joint communication is determined. Again, thisdetermination may be determined by the BS 170 itself (e.g., in the dataflow of FIG. 6A) or may be determined based on a signal received fromthe assisted ED 110 a (e.g., the signal 655 in the data flow of FIG.6B).

If data splitting is determined, then at 925 the data is split. Datasplitting may be performed in various ways, as discussed further below.

If no data splitting is determined (or if data duplication isdetermined), then the entire data may be transmitted. In some examples,the entire data may be duplicated. If there is no data splitting, thesame data may be multicast to both the cooperating ED 11 b and theassisted ED 110 a over the Uu interface.

At 930, data is transmitted over the Uu interface to the cooperating ED110 b. The transmitted data may be the entire data (in the case of relaymode or in the case of joint communication mode without data splitting),the duplicated data (in the case of joint communication mode with dataduplication) or a portion of the split data (in the case of jointcommunication mode with data splitting). The BS 170 may or may notprovide information (in the same or separate transmission over the Uuinterface) to the cooperating ED 110 b about whether the transmitteddata is for a joint communication (and, in the case of a jointcommunication the assisted ED 110 a may or may not inform thecooperating ED 110 b whether the shared data is duplicated data or aportion of split data). It may be sufficient for the BS 170 to indicateto the cooperating ED 110 b that the data is to be relayed to theintended recipient assisted ED 110 a.

Optionally, if using joint communication mode and the assisted ED 110 ais itself participating as a joint recipient, at 935 data is transmittedto the assisted ED 110 a over the Uu interface. Similarly to thetransmission at 930, the data optionally transmitted to the assisted ED110 a may be the entire data (in the case of joint communication modewithout data splitting), the duplicated data (in the case of jointcommunication mode with data duplication) or a portion of the split data(in the case of joint communication mode with data splitting).

FIG. 9B is a flowchart illustrating an example operation of thecooperating ED 110 b, using ED cooperation for DL communications. Themethod illustrated in FIG. 9B may be performed by the ED 110 b, usinginstructions stored in a memory and executed by a processing unit (seeFIG. 3 , for example). The method illustrated in FIG. 9B may beperformed by the cooperating ED 110 b in cooperation with the BS 170performing the method of FIG. 9A.

Optionally, at 955, cooperation mode may first be enabled at thecooperating ED 110 b (e.g., in response to a signal from the BS 170, orfrom the assisted ED 110 a). Cooperation mode may need to be enabled inorder for ED cooperation to take place. In some examples, ED cooperationmay always be enabled or may be enabled by default, and it may not benecessary to enable cooperation mode, in which case 955 may be omitted.

At 960, the cooperating ED 110 b receives data, from the BS 170, overthe Uu interface. The received data may be duplicated data or a portionof split data, in the case of joint communication mode. The cooperatingED 110 b may or may not be informed about whether the received data isduplicated data or a portion of split data, or whether the data is partof a joint communication. It may be sufficient for the cooperating ED110 b to have an indication that the received data should be forwardedto the assisted ED 110 a.

Optionally, at 965, the cooperating ED 110 b determines the mode ofcooperation (e.g., relay mode or joint communication mode). Thisdetermination may be based on a control signal received from the BS 170(e.g., the signal 605 in the data flow of FIG. 6C) or may be determinedbased on a signal received from the assisted ED 110 a (e.g., the signal655 in the data flow of FIG. 6D). In some cases, the cooperating ED 110b may receive such a signal (and may thus determine the mode ofcooperation) prior to receiving data over the Uu interface, such thatthe order of 960 and 965 may be switched. If the relay mode isdetermined, the method proceeds to 975. If the joint communication modeis determined, the method proceeds to optional 970. In some examples,the cooperating ED 110 b may not be informed about whether the mode ofcooperation is relay mode or joint communication mode. As discussedpreviously, the mode of cooperation may be transparent to thecooperating ED 110 b, and the ED 110 b may simply forward the shareddata regardless of the mode of cooperation. Accordingly, 965 may beomitted.

If 965 is performed and the joint communication mode is determined, thenoptionally 970 may be performed to label the data that is to beforwarded as part of a joint communication (and, if the data has beensplit, which portion of the split data is being forwarded by thecooperating ED 110 b). Such labeling of the forwarded data may help theassisted ED 110 a to reassemble the data from the multiple jointcommunications. The ability of the cooperating ED 110 b to label thedata in this manner may require the cooperating ED 110 b to be providedwith information about the type of data in the joint communication(e.g., duplicated data or split data). Such information may be providedto the cooperating ED 110 b by a control signal received from the BS 170(e.g., the signal 605 in the data flow of FIG. 6C) or a signal receivedfrom the assisted ED 110 a (e.g., the signal 655 in the data flow ofFIG. 6D).

At 975, the shared data is transmitted by the cooperating ED 110 b tothe assisted ED 110 a, over the SL interface. The data transmitted at975 may be the entire data (in the case of relay mode), the duplicateddata (in the case of joint communication mode with data duplication) ora portion of the split data (in the case of joint communication modewith data splitting).

The above examples describe an example mechanism for coordinating EDcooperation, including how the relay mode of cooperation and the jointcommunication mode of cooperation may be implemented, and how to enableand change between the two modes of cooperation. In particular, bothmodes of cooperation may be supported by the cooperating ED 110 b(although the cooperating ED 110 b may not need to be explicitly awareof the mode of cooperation), which helps to make the role of thecooperating ED 110 b to be more flexible and adaptable for differentneeds (e.g., depending on needs for system coverage enhancement orimproved system throughput).

In some examples, enabling and/or switching the mode of cooperation maybe via signaling by the BS 170. For example, the BS 170 may send acontrol signal by RRC signaling, by DCI message (e.g., to enable a modeof cooperation for a particular transmission), or a combination of thetwo. An example of a combined use of RRC and DCI is that RRC signalingmay be used to enable the relay mode, but a DCI message may be used toswitch to joint communication mode (or vice versa). The BS 170 maydetermine which mode of cooperation should be used based on, forexample, measured channel quality (e.g., based on measurements ofsignal-to-noise ratio, or based on feedback information received fromthe EDs). For example, if the channel quality between the assisted ED110 a and the BS 170 is poor, and the channel quality between thecooperating ED 110 b and the BS 170 is good, the BS 170 may determinethat relay mode should be enabled. In another example, if the channelquality between the assisted ED 110 a and the BS 170 is good, and thechannel quality between the cooperating ED 110 b and the BS 170 is alsogood, the BS 170 may determine that joint communication mode should beenabled.

In some examples, enabling and/or switching the mode of cooperation maybe via signaling by the assisted ED 110 a. For example, the assisted ED110 a may send a SCI message, and/a PC5 RRC signal, and/or an indicationof the mode of cooperation may be carried by a packet sent over the SLinterface from the assisted ED 110 a to the cooperating ED 110 b (e.g.,in media access control (MAC) control element). The assisted ED 110 amay determine which mode of cooperation should be used based on, forexample, measured channel quality and/or traffic factors. For example,if the traffic load at the assisted ED 110 a is large (e.g., at or abovea predefined threshold), the assisted ED 110 a may determine that jointcommunication mode should be used. If the traffic load at the assistedED 110 a is low (e.g., below a predefined threshold), the assisted ED110 a may determine that relay mode should be used. In another example,if low latency is expected or required at the assisted ED 110 a, theassisted ED 110 a may determine that joint communication mode should beused. If low latency is not expected or not required at the assisted ED110 a, the assisted ED 110 a may determine that relay mode should beused.

In some examples, a combination of signaling by the BS 170 and signalingby the assisted ED 110 a may be used. For example, the BS 170 mayindicate the mode of cooperation, but the assisted ED 110 a may overridethis with a different mode of cooperation.

Different possible ways of signaling the enablement or switching of amode of cooperation may be used, for example depending on theapplication. This may provide dynamic and flexible implementation of EDcooperation.

In some examples, the cooperating ED 110 b may have two different modesof ED cooperation enabled at the same time, in ED-specific orgroup-specific cooperation.

FIG. 10 shows an example of ED-specific cooperation. In this example,the cooperating ED 110 b cooperates with a first assisted ED-1 110 a-1in joint communication mode (thin black arrows), and at the same timethe cooperating ED 110 b cooperates with a second assisted ED-2 110 a-2in relay mode (thick white arrows). The first assisted ED-1 110 a-1 mayhave good channel conditions (e.g., good signal-to-noise ratio (SNR)),and the joint communication with the cooperating ED 110 b may be toimprove the throughput. At the same time, the second assisted ED-2 110a-2 may have poor or no coverage, and the use of the cooperating ED 110b in relay mode may be to improve system coverage.

Although ED-specific cooperation is illustrated in FIG. 10 , in otherexamples the cooperation may be group-specific. That is, the cooperatingED 110 b may use joint communication mode with one group of assisted EDs110 a-1, and at the same time use relay mode with a second group ofassisted EDs 110 a-2. In some examples, a mix of ED-specific andgroup-specific cooperation may be implemented (e.g., the cooperating ED110 b uses joint communication mode with one assisted ED 110 a-1 anduses relay mode with a group of assisted EDs 110 a-2). Further, itshould be understood that the cooperating ED 110 b may cooperate withmore than two assisted EDs 110 a-1, 110 a-2 (or groups of assisted EDs110 a-1, 110 a-2) in ED-specific or group-specific cooperation.

In order to support ED-specific or group-specific modes of cooperation,the indicator for enabling or switching a mode of cooperation mayfurther include identification of the specific assisted ED (e.g., usinga sub-group identifier or configured higher layer identifier of thespecific ED for generating a reference signal (RS), scramblingsequences, CRC mask or hopping pattern) or identification of thespecific group of ED (e.g., using a group identifier of the group ofEDs). Such information may be preconfigured or dynamically indicated tothe cooperating ED 110 b, for example. A group-specific mode ofcooperation may be enabled using group-based signaling (e.g., groupDCI).

For example, the cooperating ED 110 b may receive a first indicator(e.g., from the BS 170 or from the first assisted ED 110 a-1) to enablejoint communication mode or cooperation with the first assisted ED 110a-1. The first indicator may include information identifying the firstassisted ED 110 a-1 (e.g., a device identifier of the first assisted ED110 a-1). The cooperating ED 110 b may also receive a second indicator(e.g., from the BS 170 or from the second assisted ED 110 a-2) to enablerelay mode of cooperation with the second assisted ED 110 a-2. Thesecond indicator may include information identifying the second assistedED 110 a-2 (e.g., a device identifier of the second assisted ED 110a-2). Using the received information, the cooperating ED 110 b mayproperly determine which mode of cooperation is being used for which setof data shared over the SL. The cooperating ED 110 b may also use suchinformation to appropriately multiplex data from different sources, asdiscussed further below. It should be noted that, in some examples, thecooperating ED 110 b may not require the second indicator to enable therelay mode of cooperation. For example, the cooperating ED 110 b may userelay mode of cooperation by default.

When the cooperating ED 110 b cooperates with the two (or more) assistedEDs 110 a (or two or more groups of assisted EDs 110 a) for ULcommunications, the intended recipient for both sets of data(originating from each assisted ED 110 a or group of ED 110 a) may bethe BS 170 (as shown in FIG. 10 ). In other examples, each set of data(originating from each assisted ED 110 a or group of ED 110 a) may havea different intended recipient (e.g., the BS 170 is the intendedrecipient for one set of data originating from the first assisted ED 110a-1, and another ED (not shown) is the intended recipient for anotherset of data originating from the second assisted ED 110 a-2). In thecase of DL communications, the cooperating ED 110 b may transmitdifferent sets of data to different intended recipients (e.g., to thefirst assisted ED 110 a-1, and to the second assisted ED 110 a-2), orthe cooperating ED 110 a may transmit different sets of data to the sameintended recipient.

The ability to tailor the mode of cooperation for specific EDs orspecific groups of EDs may provide a more flexible mechanism forimplementing ED cooperation. For example, the ability to implementED-specific modes of cooperation may enable the cooperating ED 110 b tocooperate with a legacy ED (which does not support joint communicationmode) using relay mode of cooperation, and to cooperate with anon-legacy ED (which does support joint communication mode) using jointcommunication mode of cooperation.

FIG. 11 shows an example of joint communication. In this example, thecooperating ED 110 b performs joint communication with the assisted ED110 a (thin black arrows), using joint communication mode ofcooperation. At the same time, the cooperating ED 110 b may alsotransmit its own data over the Uu interface 190 (thick black arrow). Inthis example, the assisted ED 110 a may split the data for jointcommunication. A first portion of the split data is transmitted over theSL interface 195 to the cooperating ED 110 b, and is forwarded by thecooperating ED 110 b over the Uu interface 190 to the BS 170 (or toanother ED (not shown)). A second portion of the split data istransmitted by the assisted ED 110 a itself over the Uu interface 190.In some examples, the data may be split over more than two EDs 110. Forexample, a further third portion of the split data, or a copy of thefirst portion of the split data, may be shared over the SL interface 195with another cooperating ED (not shown).

The data may be split in various suitable ways. The data may be splitinto two or more portions, and the portions may or may not beoverlapping (i.e., some of the data may or may not be common betweenportions). The data may be split at a higher layer (e.g., at the packetdata convergence protocol (PDCP) layer or at the MAC layer), or may besplit at a lower layer (e.g., at the physical (PHY) layer, such assplitting the data over two or more codewords, over two or more codeblock groups or over two or more redundancy version (RV) of hybridautomatic repeat request (HARQ) transmission).

FIGS. 12A-C show some examples of how data splitting may be implementedat the assisted ED 110 a. For simplicity, the data is shown as beingsplit into two portions, however the data may be split into more thantwo portions in some examples. Although FIGS. 12A-C show data splittingat the assisted ED 110 a, for UL communications, data splitting may besimilarly implemented at the BS 170, for DL communications.

FIG. 12A shows an example in which data is split into two portions atthe PDCP layer. Each portion is then separately processed in the radiolink control (RLC), MAC and PHY layers. FIG. 12B shows an example inwhich data is split into two portions at the MAC layer. FIG. 12C showsan example in which data is split into two portions at the PHY layer.The method in which data is split may impact the ease of reassemblingthe data at the destination (e.g., at the BS 170). In some examples, themethod for splitting data may be specified when the mode of cooperationis indicated (e.g., as part of the signal 605 or 655 described above),may be preconfigured (e.g., using RRC signaling, or defined instandards), may be selected by the data source (e.g., at the assisted ED110 a), may be selected dynamically, or a combination of the above,among other possibilities.

Regardless of the mode of cooperation (e.g., relay mode or jointcommunication mode), the cooperating ED 110 b may multiplex data fromtwo or more sources when transmitting the data. For example, thecooperating ED 110 b may multiplex data shared over the SL by theassisted ED 110 a with data originating from the cooperating ED 110 bitself, and transmit the multiplexed data over the Uu interface to theBS 170 (or to another ED 110). For DL communications, the cooperating ED110 b may multiplex data received over the Uu interface from the BS 170with data originating from the cooperating ED 110 b itself. Thecooperating ED 110 b may also multiplex two sets of shared dataoriginating from two different sources (e.g., originating from twodifferent assisted EDs 110 a).

FIGS. 13A-C show some examples of how data may be multiplexed by thecooperating ED 110 b. In these figures, different shading is used toidentify data originating from different sources. For example, unshadedblocks may indicate data originating from the assisted ED 110 a andshaded blocks may indicate data originating from the cooperating ED 110b itself. This is only an example, and other sources of the data may bepossible. The arrows shown in FIGS. 13A-C indicate the direction oftransmission from the cooperating ED 110 b to the BS 170. Further, inthese figures data from only two different sources have been shown forsimplicity. However, data originating from more than two differentsources may be multiplexed in similar ways.

In the example of FIG. 13A, data is multiplexed in different code blockgroups (CBGs). As shown, first, second and fourth CBGs 1302 a, 1302 b,1302 d are used to carry data originating from a first source (e.g., theassisted ED 110 a), and the third CBG 1302 c is used to carry dataoriginating from a second source (e.g., the cooperating ED 110 bitself).

In the example of FIG. 13B, data is multiplexed in different layers(e.g., using MIMO techniques). As shown, a first layer 1312 a is used tocarry data originating from first source (e.g., the assisted ED 110 a),and a second layer 1312 b is used to carry data originating from asecond source (e.g., the cooperating ED 110 b itself).

In the example of FIG. 13C, data is multiplexed in different codewords.As shown, a first codeword 1322 a is used to carry data originating fromfirst source (e.g., the assisted ED 110 a), and a second codeword 1322 bis used to carry data originating from a second source (e.g., thecooperating ED 110 b itself).

Data may also be multiplexed in different transport blocks (not shown).

Data may also be multiplexed in different radio bearers (not shown).

The method for multiplexing data at the cooperating ED 110 b may bepreconfigured (e.g., defined in a standard, or preconfigured using RRCsignaling), or may be determined dynamically. The multiplexing methodmay be selected by the cooperating ED 110 b, or may be indicated by theBS 170 for example.

In order for the recipient (e.g., the BS 170) to correctly process thereceived data, information about the type of multiplexing used (e.g.,including information about which transmission resource carries datafrom which source) may be explicitly provided. For example, explicitindications may be carried by DCI message or using RRC signaling orother layer mapping or header information to indicate which radiobearer, transport block, codeword, CBG or layer carries data from whichsource. For example, the BS 170 may specify (e.g., in RRC signalingand/or DCI message) that when joint communication mode is in use dataoriginating from the assisted ED 110 a should be carried in the firstcodeword and data originating from the cooperating ED 110 b itselfshould be carried in the second codeword. The cooperating ED 110 b maythen multiplex data for transmission accordingly, and the BS 170 mayreceive the process the multiplex data accordingly.

In some examples, instead of providing such information in an explicitmessage or control signal, information about the type of multiplexingused may be implicit. For example, blind decoding of the transportblocks, codewords, CBGs or layers may be used to determine the sourcesof the data. For example, identifying information (e.g., an identifierof the data source, such as a radio network temporary identifier (RNTI),group identifier, device identifier, etc.) may be used in generatingcyclic redundancy check (CRC) bits, used in scrambling, or used in thedemodulation reference signal (DMRS). The recipient (e.g., BS 170) ofthe multiplexed data may then use blind decoding to find the identifyinginformation and identify the sources of the respective data. The use ofsuch implicit identification of data may enable multiplexing of data tobe performed in a more flexible and dynamic way.

In other examples, the type of multiplexing used and the order in whichdata is multiplexed may be predefined and known to the recipient aheadof time. For example, which layers to use for carrying data fromdifferent sources may be predefined (e.g., specified in a standard).

Multiplexing of data (whether over transport block, codeword, CBG orlayer, or any other way) may be performed dynamically. For example, thecooperating ED 110 b may perform data multiplexing at a certain time(e.g., if the cooperating ED 110 b has data of its own to transmit) andnot perform multiplexing at another time (e.g., if the cooperating ED110 b does not have data of its own to transmit). Different types ofmultiplexing may be used at different times.

In various examples, the present disclosure describes methods andapparatuses that support different modes of ED cooperation. An ED may beconfigured to support and switch between relay mode or jointcommunication mode of cooperation. Further, an ED may use ED-specific orgroup-specific modes of cooperation. In the relay mode, the cooperatingED relays data from another source (e.g., an assisted ED or a BS). Inthe joint communication mode, the cooperating ED jointly transmits thedata with another ED (or BS).

The enabling or switching of ED cooperation, and mode of cooperation maybe triggered by the BS and/or by the assisted ED. Different methods fortriggering a mode of cooperation (e.g., higher layer signaling, lowerlayer signaling, etc.) have been described in various examples.

Different examples have been described for performing data splitting.Explicit or implicit signalling may be used to indicate whether datasplitting should be used and the type of data splitting to use, or thismay be preconfigured.

When data splitting is used for joint communication, the reassembly ofthe portions of split data may be facilitated by information used toidentify the portions (e.g., identifying the portions according to theorder in which they should be reassembled).

The present disclosure describes examples in which an ED may bedescribed as a cooperating ED that cooperates with an assisted ED. Itshould be understood that the roles of cooperating ED and assisted EDare not fixed. For example, an ED that acts as a cooperating ED at onetime may act as an assisted ED at another time. Further, a first ED mayact as a cooperating ED that cooperates with a second ED in the role ofan assisted ED; the first ED may, at the same time, take on the role ofan assisted ED and cooperate with a third ED in the role of acooperating ED. Other such variations may be possible.

Examples that have been described as UL communications to the BS may beadapted for communications in which the destination of thecommunications is another ED, or another network entity other than theBS. Similarly, examples that have been described as DL communicationsoriginating from the BS may be adapted for communications in which theorigin of the communications is another network entity other than theBS.

In some examples, the present disclosure describes a method, at a sourceapparatus, the method including: transmitting data, intended for anintended recipient, to a cooperating device to be further transmitted bythe cooperating device to the intended recipient if a mode ofcooperation is a relay mode; or transmitting at least a portion of thedata, intended for the intended recipient, to at least the cooperatingdevice to be further transmitted by the cooperating device to theintended recipient together with another transmission of at least a sameor different portion of the data by another cooperating device or by thesource apparatus if the mode of cooperation is a joint communicationmode.

In some examples, before the transmitting, the method further includes:receiving an indicator enabling either the relay mode or the jointcommunication mode, from the intended recipient.

In some examples, the source apparatus is a device and the intendedrecipient is a base station, wherein the indicator received from thebase station is provided in one or more of: a radio resource control(RRC) signal; or a downlink control information (DCI) message.

In some examples, the method further includes: transmitting, to theintended recipient, an indicator of either the relay mode or the jointcommunication mode.

In some examples, the source apparatus is a base station and theintended recipient is a device, wherein the indicator is transmitted inone or more of: a radio resource control (RRC) signal; or a downlinkcontrol information (DCI) message.

In some examples, the method further includes: transmitting an indicatorenabling either the relay mode or the joint communication mode to thecooperating device.

In some examples, the source apparatus is a device, and the indicator istransmitted in one or more of: a sidelink control information (SCI)message; a radio resource control (RRC) signal over a sidelink physicallayer (PC5); or a packet transmitted over a sidelink interface.

In some examples, the mode of cooperation is determined based on atleast one of: channel quality between the source apparatus and theintended recipient; traffic load of the source apparatus or intendedrecipient; or latency requirement at the source apparatus or intendedrecipient.

In some examples, the method further includes: if the mode ofcooperation is the joint communication mode: splitting the data into twoor more portions data; transmitting one of the two or more portions ofdata to the cooperating device, to be transmitted by the cooperatingdevice to the intended recipient; and performing at least one of:transmitting another of the two or more portions of data to anothercooperating device, to be transmitted by the other cooperating device tothe intended recipient; or transmitting the other of the two or moreportions of data to the intended recipient.

In some examples, splitting the data is performed by one of: splittingthe data at a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer; splittingthe data at a media access control (MAC) layer; or splitting the data ata physical (PHY) layer.

In some examples, the present disclosure describes a method, at acooperating device, the method including: receiving a first indicatorenabling a first mode of cooperation with a first source apparatus;receiving at least a portion of first data from the first sourceapparatus; receiving at least a portion of second data from a secondsource apparatus; and transmitting at least the portion of first dataand at least the portion of second data to at least one intendedrecipient.

In some examples, the method further includes: receiving a secondindicator enabling a different second mode of cooperation with thesecond source apparatus; wherein at least the portion of first data istransmitted using the first mode of cooperation, and at least theportion of second data is transmitted using the second mode ofcooperation.

In some examples, the method further includes: in absence of anyindicator indicating a mode of cooperation with the second sourceapparatus, transmitting at least the portion of second data using asecond mode of cooperation by default.

In some examples, the first mode of cooperation is a joint communicationmode, and the second mode of cooperation is a relay mode.

In some examples, the second source apparatus is the cooperating device.

In some examples, the intended recipient for both at least the portionof first data and at least the portion of second data is a base station,and the first indicator is received from the base station.

In some examples, the intended recipient for at least the portion offirst data is different from the intended recipient for at least theportion of second data.

In some examples, at least one intended recipient is a device.

In some examples, the transmitting includes multiplexing at least theportion of first data and at least the portion of second data overrespective transmission resources.

In some examples, the transmitting includes multiplexing at least theportion of first data and at least the portion of second data over:different codewords; different transport blocks; different layers;different code block groups; or different radio bearers.

In some examples, the present disclosure describes a method, at a basestation, the method including: transmitting a first indicator enabling amode of cooperation at a source apparatus, the mode of cooperation beingeither a relay mode of cooperation or a joint communication mode ofcooperation; and after transmitting the indicator enabling the relaymode: receiving, from a cooperating device, data originating from thesource apparatus; or after transmitting the indicator enabling the jointcommunication mode: receiving, from the cooperating device, at least aportion of data originating from the source apparatus; and receiving,from at least another device, a different portion of data originatingfrom the source apparatus or a duplicate of at least the portion of dataoriginating from the source apparatus.

In some examples, the other device is another cooperating device, or isthe source apparatus.

In some examples, the method further includes: transmitting a secondindicator to the cooperating device to enable the mode of cooperation atthe cooperating device.

In some examples, the second indicator is transmitted to enable thejoint communication mode at the cooperating device, and in absence ofthe second indicator the relay mode is enabled at the cooperating deviceby default.

In some examples, the second indicator includes information identifyingthe source apparatus.

In some examples, the second indicator includes information indicatingtransmission resources to be used by the cooperating device fortransmitting at least the portion of data originating from the sourceapparatus.

In some examples, the first indicator is transmitted in one or more of:a radio resource control (RRC) signal; or a downlink control information(DCI) message.

In some examples, the present disclosure describes a method, at a basestation, the method including: to enable a joint communication mode ofcooperation: transmitting a first indicator enabling the jointcommunication mode of cooperation at an intended recipient;transmitting, to a cooperating device, at least a portion of dataoriginating from the base station; and transmitting, to at least anotherdevice, a different portion of data originating from the base station ora duplicate of at least the portion of data originating from the basestation; and to enable a relay mode of cooperation: in absence oftransmitting the first indicator, transmitting, to the cooperatingdevice, data originating from the base station.

In some examples, the other device is another cooperating device, or isthe intended recipient.

In some examples, the method further includes: transmitting a secondindicator to the cooperating device to enable the joint communicationmode of cooperation at the cooperating device.

In some examples, the present disclosure describes a source apparatuscomprising a non-transitory memory storage comprising instructions; andone or more processors in communication with the memory, wherein the oneor more processors execute the instructions to implement steps inaccordance with any of the methods described herein.

In some examples, the present disclosure describes a cooperatingapparatus comprising a non-transitory memory storage comprisinginstructions; and one or more processors in communication with thememory, wherein the one or more processors execute the instructions toimplement steps in accordance with any of the methods described herein.

In some examples, the present disclosure describes a base stationcomprising a non-transitory memory storage comprising instructions; andone or more processors in communication with the memory, wherein the oneor more processors execute the instructions to implement steps inaccordance with any of the methods described herein.

Although the present disclosure describes methods and processes withsteps in a certain order, one or more steps of the methods and processesmay be omitted or altered as appropriate. One or more steps may takeplace in an order other than that in which they are described, asappropriate.

Although the present disclosure is described, at least in part, in termsof methods, a person of ordinary skill in the art will understand thatthe present disclosure is also directed to the various components forperforming at least some of the aspects and features of the describedmethods, be it by way of hardware components, software or anycombination of the two. Accordingly, the technical solution of thepresent disclosure may be embodied in the form of a software product. Asuitable software product may be stored in a pre-recorded storage deviceor other similar non-volatile or non-transitory computer readablemedium, including DVDs, CD-ROMs, USB flash disk, a removable hard disk,or other storage media, for example. The software product includesinstructions tangibly stored thereon that enable a processing device(e.g., a personal computer, a server, or a network device) to executeexamples of the methods disclosed herein. The machine-executableinstructions may be in the form of code sequences, configurationinformation, or other data, which, when executed, cause a machine (e.g.,a processor or other processing device) to perform steps in a methodaccording to examples of the present disclosure.

The present disclosure may be embodied in other specific forms withoutdeparting from the subject matter of the claims. The described exampleembodiments are to be considered in all respects as being onlyillustrative and not restrictive. Selected features from one or more ofthe above-described embodiments may be combined to create alternativeembodiments not explicitly described, features suitable for suchcombinations being understood within the scope of this disclosure.

All values and sub-ranges within disclosed ranges are also disclosed.Also, although the systems, devices and processes disclosed and shownherein may comprise a specific number of elements/components, thesystems, devices and assemblies could be modified to include additionalor fewer of such elements/components. For example, although any of theelements/components disclosed may be referenced as being singular, theembodiments disclosed herein could be modified to include a plurality ofsuch elements/components. The subject matter described herein intends tocover and embrace all suitable changes in technology.

1. A method, at a source apparatus, the method comprising: determining afirst indicated configuration of two configurations of cooperationbetween the source apparatus and at least a first cooperating device,wherein the two configurations of cooperation comprises a jointcommunication configuration of cooperation and a relay configuration ofcooperation, and wherein the first indicated configuration is the jointcommunication configuration of cooperation; and performing the jointcommunication configuration of cooperation by: splitting or duplicatingdata, intended for an intended recipient, into two or more portions ofdata, wherein the splitting or duplicating is performed at one of apacket data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer, a media access control(MAC) layer or a physical (PHY) layer of the source apparatus;transmitting one of the two or more portions of data to at least thefirst cooperating device to be further transmitted by at least the firstcooperating device to the intended recipient; and transmitting anotherof the two or more portions of data to the intended recipient or to asecond cooperating device to be further transmitted by the secondcooperating device to the intended recipient.
 2. The method of claim 1,further comprising: determining a second indicated configuration, fromamong the two configurations of cooperation, to be the relayconfiguration of cooperation; and performing the relay configuration ofcooperation by: transmitting data, intended for the intended recipient,to the first cooperating device to be further transmitted by the firstcooperating device to the intended recipient.
 3. The method of claim 2,further comprising performing the relay configuration of cooperation by:enabling the relay configuration of cooperation at the first cooperatingdevice by: in absence of receiving or transmitting any signalling,transmitting, to the first cooperating device only, the data originatingfrom the source apparatus.
 4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:receiving or transmitting signalling indicating the first indicatedconfiguration; wherein the signalling is received or transmitted in oneor more of: a radio resource control (RRC) signal, a downlink controlinformation (DCI) message, a sidelink control information (SCI) message,a RRC signal over a sidelink physical layer (PC5), or a packettransmitted over a sidelink interface.
 5. The method of claim 4, whereinthe signalling indicates the data is to be split or duplicated, andwherein the splitting or duplicating is performed in accordance with thesignalling.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein performing the jointconfiguration of cooperation further comprises: splitting the data intotwo or more portions of data at the PDCP layer of the source apparatus;and separately processing each of the two or more portions of data by aset of protocols of a radio link control (RLC) layer, the MAC layer andthe PHY layer of the source apparatus.
 7. The method of claim 1, whereinperforming the joint configuration of cooperation further comprises:processing the data by a set of protocols of the PDCP layer and a radiolink control (RLC) layer of the source apparatus; splitting the datainto two or more portions of data at the MAC layer of the sourceapparatus; and separately processing each of the two or more portions ofdata by protocols of the PHY layer of the source apparatus.
 8. Themethod of claim 1, wherein performing the joint configuration ofcooperation further comprises: processing the data by a set of protocolsof the PDCP layer, a radio link control (RLC) layer and the MAC layer ofthe source apparatus; and splitting the data into two or more portionsof data at the PHY layer of the source apparatus.
 9. An apparatuscomprising: a processing unit coupled to a memory storing instructionsexecutable by the processing unit to cause the apparatus to: determine afirst indicated configuration of two configurations of cooperationbetween the apparatus and at least a first cooperating device, whereinthe two configurations of cooperation comprises a joint communicationconfiguration of cooperation and a relay configuration of cooperation,and wherein the first indicated configuration is the joint communicationconfiguration of cooperation; and perform the joint communicationconfiguration of cooperation by: splitting or duplicating data, intendedfor an intended recipient, into two or more portions of data, whereinthe splitting or duplicating is performed at one of a packet dataconvergence protocol (PDCP) layer, a media access control (MAC) layer ora physical (PHY) layer of the apparatus; transmitting one of the two ormore portions of data to at least the first cooperating device to befurther transmitted by at least the first cooperating device to theintended recipient; and transmitting another of the two or more portionsof data to the intended recipient or to a second cooperating device tobe further transmitted by the second cooperating device to the intendedrecipient.
 10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the instructions arefurther executable by the processing unit to cause the apparatus to:determine a second indicated configuration, from among the twoconfigurations of cooperation, to be the relay configuration ofcooperation; and perform the relay configuration of cooperation by:transmitting data, intended for the intended recipient, to the firstcooperating device to be further transmitted by the first cooperatingdevice to the intended recipient.
 11. The apparatus of claim 10, whereinthe instructions are further executable by the processing unit to causethe apparatus to perform the relay configuration of cooperation by:enabling the relay configuration of cooperation at the first cooperatingdevice by: in absence of receiving or transmitting any signalling,transmitting, to the first cooperating device only, the data originatingfrom the apparatus.
 12. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein theinstructions are further executable by the processing unit to cause theapparatus to: receive or transmit signalling indicating the firstindicated configuration; wherein the signalling is received ortransmitted in one or more of: a radio resource control (RRC) signal, adownlink control information (DCI) message, a sidelink controlinformation (SCI) message, a RRC signal over a sidelink physical layer(PC5), or a packet transmitted over a sidelink interface.
 13. Theapparatus of claim 12, wherein the signalling indicates the data is tobe split or duplicated, and wherein the splitting or duplicating isperformed in accordance with the signalling.
 14. The apparatus of claim9, wherein the instructions are further executable by the processingunit to cause the apparatus to perform the joint configuration ofcooperation by: splitting the data into two or more portions of data atthe PDCP layer of the source apparatus; and separately processing eachof the two or more portions of data by a set of protocols of a radiolink control (RLC) layer, the MAC layer and the PHY layer of the sourceapparatus.
 15. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the instructions arefurther executable by the processing unit to cause the apparatus toperform the joint configuration of cooperation by: processing the databy a set of protocols of the PDCP layer and a radio link control (RLC)layer of the source apparatus; splitting the data into two or moreportions of data at the MAC layer of the source apparatus; andseparately processing each of the two or more portions of data byprotocols of the PHY layer of the source apparatus.
 16. The apparatus ofclaim 9, wherein the instructions are further executable by theprocessing unit to cause the apparatus to perform the jointconfiguration of cooperation by: processing the data by a set ofprotocols of the PDCP layer, a radio link control (RLC) layer and theMAC layer of the source apparatus; and splitting the data into two ormore portions of data at the PHY layer of the source apparatus.
 17. Amethod, at a recipient apparatus, comprising: determining a firstindicated configuration of two configurations of cooperation, whereinthe two configurations of cooperation comprises a joint communicationconfiguration of cooperation and a relay configuration of cooperation,and wherein the first indicated configuration is the joint communicationconfiguration of cooperation; and using the joint communicationconfiguration of cooperation by: receiving, from a first cooperatingdevice, at least a first portion of data originating from a sourceapparatus; and receiving, from at least another device, a differentsecond portion of data originating from the source apparatus or aduplicate of at least the first portion of data originating from thesource apparatus; wherein at least the first portion of data and thedifferent second portion or the duplicate of at least the first portionof data are reassembled at one of a packet data convergence protocol(PDCP) layer; at a media access control (MAC) layer; or at a physical(PHY) layer.
 18. The method of claim 17, further comprising: determininga second indicated configuration, from among the two configurations ofcooperation, to be the relay configuration of cooperation; and using therelay configuration of cooperation by: receiving, from the firstcooperating device, data originating from the source apparatus.
 19. Themethod of claim 17, further comprising: receiving or transmittingsignalling indicating the first indicated configuration; wherein thesignalling is received or transmitted in one or more of: a radioresource control (RRC) signal, a downlink control information (DCI)message, a sidelink control information (SCI) message, a RRC signal overa sidelink physical layer (PC5), or a packet transmitted over a sidelinkinterface.
 20. The method of claim 17, wherein the first portion of dataand the second portion of data are received from different devices, andwherein the first portion of data and the second portion of data areprocessed separately by a set of protocols of the PHY layer, the MAClayer and a radio link control (RLC) layer before being reassembled atthe PDCP layer.